Top seed Velavan Senthilkumar made a winning start to his campaign, even while Om Semwal came up with a spirited performance but fell short in the end in the USD 15,000 HCL-SRFI PSA Challenger tournament, being hosted by the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana Club at their air conditioned courts, in Mumbai on Wednesday.Velavan Senthilkumar hardly broke a sweat before accounting for Ayan Vaziralli 11-4, 11-9, 11-6. Fourth seed A Hafez and 7th seed Endo also advanced to the quarter-finals with straight game wins.Semwal, who had knocked out the 3rd seed in a five game thriller yesterday looked on course for another upset win over 8th seed Ziad Ibrahim of Egypt. However, The 22-year-old from Jindal Vashind faltered a bit in the final stages, losing a close decider. Ibrahim prevailed 11-9, 11-13, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9.Shameena Riaz also stumbled in the women’s quarters, losing to Japan’ s 6th seed Akari Midorikawa in four games. Going into the match with a 1-1 record, the Japanese player won 12-10, 11-8, 5-11, 11-2.RESULTSMen’s 2nd round: (1) Velavan Senthilkumar bt Ayaan Vaziralli 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-6); (4) A Hafez bt A Dewan 3-0 (12-10, 11-3, 11-9); (7) T Endo (Japan) bt R Baitha 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-5);Quarter Finals: M Syafiq Kamal (Malaysia) bt S Eltorgman (Egypt) 3-1 (11-7,6-11,11-5,11-8); (8) Z Ibrahim bt O Semwal 3-2 (11-5,11-13,11-8, 8-11,11-9).Women’s 2nd round: (4) N Khafagy bt S Vats 3-1 (7-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-7); (5) M Fathy bt A Dubey 3-0 (12-10, 11-4, 11-6); (7) R Sugimoto bt U Tripathi 3-0 (11-5,11-8,11-6); (2) F Walid bt N Dubey 3-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-7).Quarter Finals: (6) A Midorikawa bt S Riaz 3-1 (12-10, 11-8, 5-11, 11-2).
